Top Euro Socialist: EU Is A ‘Financial Dictatorship’ That Will Die If Not Changed

GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images23 Jul 2015

Speaking about the “deepest systematic crisis in EU history”, a top European Socialist yesterday said that the EU’s social agenda has been “replaced by a form of financial dictatorship” and warned if that continues Europe “will die”.

Pittella, President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament, was calling on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to put EU governance, debt mutualisation and investment at the top of the EU’s agenda or risk Eurogeddon within a decade. He said:

“Europe needs to make a qualitative leap to leave behind the deepest systematic crisis in EU history. The farcical response given by the Council over migration and the drama continuing in Greece demonstrate the depth of the European crisis and show the extent to which European solidarity has vanished in recent years.”

Ever the loyal European Pittella still found it possible to praise President Juncker for doing what he called “a good job of keeping the different European puzzle pieces together”, however he also said a “leap forward” must now be taken in order to put three major issues at the top of the EU’s agenda. He continued:

“We need to see a new, reinforced, governance of the EU institutions, a plan for the mutualisation of sovereign debts, and a new larger investment programme. This must allow for greater flexibility and be devoted to growth and job creation.”

While eurosceptics will welcome the admission from a leading politician that the EU is in a deep systematic crisis, they will find no comfort in his prescription for a cure. Pittella is yet another politician who believes the solution to the crisis is not less Europe, but more. He called for the “new governance” to expand its remit, demanding it:

“…reintroduce the European social agenda – the recognition of the social dimension in the monetary and economic union and the fight against inequalities and social dumping – which has been completely abandoned in the last 10 years and has sadly been replaced by a form of financial dictatorship.”

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will find much to agree with in Pitella’s comments. He previously described the proposed bailout terms, negotiated after his departure from government, as the “Terms of Greece’s Surrender”. According to Varoufakis the demands for reform imposed from abroad, similar to Pitella’s “financial dictatorship”, are “fiscal waterboarding”.

Pitella concluded:

“We cannot imagine Europe in 10 years’ time if it continues along the current path. Either we change it or it will die.”